Friday, February 15, 2008

Bad Luck Zednik

In 2002, my friends and I went up to Montreal for a school band tour. At the time the NHL playoffs were going on and the Bruins and Canadiens were playing at the Molson Center. When we got off the bus in the city, proudly wearing the black and gold, Canadiens fans violently shouted at and threatened us in French. We reveled in it and it wasn't until we got to our hotel room and turned on the TV that we really understood the hostility. In the third period with a commanding lead, Boston's Kyle McClaren elbowed Montreal's Richard Zednick in the face, knocking him unconscious and dealing him a serious injury. As fucked up as it sounds, we were kind of elated and laugh about it to this day.

Well, Zednick now plays for Florida, and on Sunday it looked like his life had ended. His teammate Olli Jokinen's skate accidentally cut the external carotid artery in Zednick's neck, spilling blood all over the ice, ending his season. For a few minutes no one knew what to think and hockey feared the worst. At least he's okay now.

The only other time that I know of this happening was in 1989 when Clint Malarchuk, the goaltender for Buffalo had his internal carotiod artery sliced open by a skate, spilling blood everywhere. I won't post the video because it's pretty gruesome, so just search on youtube if you want to see it.